Mr. Pitt's Neighborhood

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May 06, 2007

Q I enjoyed reading your article on the home you recently built in Ohio (“Design, Construction, and Performance in Ohio,” Jan/Feb ’07, p. 36). I am an architect practicing in the Pacific Northwest (... [continue reading]

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May 06, 2007

Q We are building a new passive-solar home and have had difficulty finding commercially available low-U, high solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) windows. The specs quoted for the windows in the Home ... [continue reading]

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March 20, 2007

A unique blend of energy-efficient solar homes will emerge in California’s new-home marketplace in 2007, under the California Energy Commission’s New Solar Homes Partnership. “Our program is intended to transform the ... [continue reading]

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March 20, 2007

The New Solar Home Partnership (NSHP) is a ten-year, $350 million program to subsidize PV systems in new homes. The NSHP, which is being implemented by the California Energy Commission (CEC), offers performance-based rebates for PV ... [continue reading]

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March 19, 2007

There is an emerging trend in energy programs for new homes to shift from a focus on the use of individual high-performance components to a focus on overall home performance. Key examples of this trend ... [continue reading]

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March 19, 2007

While zero-energy homes (ZEHs) are still more of a goal than a reality, near-zero-energy homes—those that produce as much electricity, but not quite as much total energy, as the residents consume—are ... [continue reading]

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March 10, 2007

Rising energy prices, coupled with increased public awareness, have fueled demand for more energy-efficient homes. Many builders have responded by qualifying their new homes for the Energy Star label. Others have gone beyond Energy Star ... [continue reading]

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March 10, 2007

The San Francisco Bay Area is notorious for its high housing prices, and many families find themselves priced out of homeownership. Since 1988, East Bay Habitat for Humanity (EBHFH) has worked to reverse this trend by ... [continue reading]